1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and computer readable medium for exploring similar users and items of a media service.
2. Background of the Invention
The expansion of the Internet and the World Wide Web (“web”) has given computer users the enhanced ability to listen to and to watch various different forms of media through their computers. This media can be in the form of audio music, music videos, television programs, sporting events or any other form of audio or video media that a user wishes to watch or listen to.
In the past, users were able to purchase some form of removable media (e.g., compact disc), place the media into their computer's drive and listen to the song that was on their removable media. As time evolved, users were able to take the music that was on that compact disc store it on their computers and listen to it locally. More recently, web systems were developed which allowed a user log on to a network such as the Internet and, using a media player, either listen to specific media chosen from a group of media that a particular service has to offer or listen to an array of media offerings such as a radio station wherein different songs or other forms of media are combined to allow a user to listen to a group of songs in sequence, whether chosen by the user or by the operators of the network service. For example such a service is Yahoo!™ Music. Many media players, services and other software tools enable media to be organized by a user or a service into playlists, which, as the name connotes, are groups or lists of media files or file identifiers that can be used to effect playback by a user in a sequence or other selected or random order.
Newer technology has also allowed computer users to purchase portable devices that are able to store a user's media, making the user's media portable in the sense that a user can take his or her music with them wherever they may be going. These devices permit the storage and transport of the actual media files that are downloaded from a user's computer or a network onto the portable device. These portable devices are able to store individual media files and/or playlists that a user wishes to make portable. Thus, if a user has a certain media file on their computer the user can transfer that media file onto the portable device and transport it to locations different from the location where the user's computer system is located. Although these devices are popular today, they do have numerous drawbacks in that a user is severely limited in the range of what type of media they can store on their portable device and the ease of storing such media. This is because these devices only allow a user the capability of transporting media that is available locally on their computer as well as media that is available from a network service that offers such media. It is a shortcoming in the art that there is no system by which the user could broaden the range of media that can be made portable so as not to be constrained by the bounds and limits of certain Internet services' range of media or offerings. It would also be advantageous if a system or service was able to create a playlist and/or suggest different media for a user based on the user's previous experience and then make that media available at multiple media enabled devices as well as made portable, so that the user need not individually download each specific song and/or other media that the user likes but rather, in addition to the user's own selections the system would be able to grant the user more variety as well as spontaneity in the media available to the user no matter where the user might be located.
Another by-product of the expansion of the web is the interaction between different users by various different means such as email and/or instant messaging. This interaction has resulted in the ability for computer users to share many different types of information. For example, one user may send another user the Universal Resource Locator (URL) which points to a specific website that one user wishes the other user to experience. In another situation one user may wish to send another user a media file that they wish the other user to experience. This can be accomplished by sending the other user the actual media file attached to an email or instant message. On the other hand one user may send another user an URL, which links to a particular media file and is stored on a particular network. All of these systems however utilize an email, instant messaging or similar service to transfer information regarding the particular media that the user wishes to share and/or recommend. What is lacking in each of the currently available systems is a system in which a user may utilize their own media player to communicate their likes or dislikes for a particular media item to another user. It is a shortcoming in the art that there is no media system or service available wherein a user can, from within the media system and/or an enhanced media player, communicate with another user and share media with that other user and/or express a like or dislike for particular media. It would also be beneficial over known systems for a user to not have to rely on utilizing multiple programs to share or recommend music or other media to other users. It would be similarly advantageous over known systems to have one media player or to be more precise, a media engine which is able to play media as well as address a multiplicity of other user's media related needs and thus enable the user to have a more enhanced media experience.
An additional by-product of the expansion of computer related technology is that a single user in various circumstances may have more than one computer or media capable device located in numerous different locations through which a user may wish to experience their media. In the past, the users who wished to transfer or transport media files between different locations would have to go through the cumbersome steps of either transferring the media files by hand (e.g., on a compact disc), emailing or instant messaging the media file to themselves and then opening the file at a second location, or attempting to locate the media file on a particular media network service and then once again loading that particular media at a second computer location